Oh Brother Mine
by trishmahan
Summary: "He's almost like the older brother I never had." - When Dean meets another hunter he really looks up to, Sam can't help but feel that he's been replaced. What will this divide mean for the brothers on their latest hunt?


Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural!

Sam Winchester was really cold. It was raining and freaking freezing outside and he had accidentally forgotten his jacket in the bunker.

So now he was huddled up in the front seat of the Impala at the bar waiting for Dean, who was currently chatting away with his new best friend, to hurry up. Sam narrowed his eyes at the two men in front of the Impala, and resisted the urge to honk, _again_ , as they continued to laugh and make jokes or whatever.

Despite his uncomfortable position, Sam couldn't help but smile a bit. Dean deserved some down time during this whole Darkness crap that they were dealing with. He deserved more laughter and stress free moments like right now, which would have been absolutely _wonderful_ if it wasn't so damn cold outside.

Giving up, a numb Sam honked at his brother again, and let out a sigh of relief as Dean waved bye to the other guy and started heading towards the car.

"Jesus Sam, patience much?" Dean smirked as he yanked open the door to the driver's seat.

"It's freezing in here, Dean!" Sam exclaimed as he brought his face closer to the vents in the Impala that were now starting to give off beautiful waves of heat. "I need to defrost."

"Yeah well that's what you get for forgetting your freaking jacket." Dean turned up the heat. "You could have just come outside and asked me for the keys instead of freezing your ass out in the car."

"'S'cold outside too" Sam mumbled.

"Only you, Sam. Only you."

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After Sam had taken a hot shower and grabbed his cup of warm coffee, he took a seat next to Dean on the main Bunker table, which was flooded with papers and papers of research. As terrible as it may sound, the brothers were always glad when they found a hunt near the bunker. It saved them from the long drives and creaky motel rooms.

"Hey, Dean?" Sam questioned, picking up a pen and a stack of papers to go through for himself.

Dean only grunted in response and looked up with tussled hair and a pencil in his mouth.

"Who was that guy at the bar? You guys wouldn't shut up the entire time we were there." Sam joked.

"Theo Jackson" Dean let out a surprised, but knowing chuckle as Sam's jaw dropped open.

" _The_ Theo Jackson?" Sam sputtered through his coffee. "Theo Jackson, the guy who's single handedly taken down five vamp nests at a time and created the world's only Devil's Sword?

Sam had no doubt that he and Dean could easily (maybe) take down much more nests at a time, but _still._ Damn.

"One and only." Dean replied. "I can't believe you didn't recognize him Sam, no wonder you were pouting in the car the entire time!"

"What's he doing in town?"

"He's got a lead on a Werewolf pack several miles into the suburb from here." Dean replied, easing out his stiff neck. "I tried to figure out if he knew anything about the Darkness stuff going on, but if he does, he didn't show it."

"Wait." Sam held up a hand letting realization sink in. "So you're now like buddies or something with Theo Jackson?"

Although he knew that they had done some pretty weird stuff during their hunting career, there were some hunters that even the boys looked up to. A lot of the information they got came from the experiences and journals of hunters like these.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Dean let out a smile. "You won't believe it Sam, but we have so much in common. Same taste in music, cars, sports, and even hunting techniques. The guy's funny as hell."

Sam's blood ran cold and he could almost feel a shiver crawling up his back. This was way too similar to "Agent" Nick Munroe back when they took on the Siren. The siren had basically destroyed the brothers on that hunt.

Sam was startled out of the painful memory as Dean continued to talk out of amazement. "I mean, who knew, huh? That he and I would be so alike? He's almost like the older brother I never had."

Sam couldn't help but notice the way Dean talked about Theo. The elaborate hand gestures, and awe-filled eyes. It was almost how he himself talked to others about Dean.

Dean cut himself off when he noticed Sam's resigned face.

"Look Sammy, I know what you're thinking, but this isn't like the Siren case." Dean said, pushing himself up off of the chair for another round of coffee. "We can trust this guy, he's one of us. You and you're geeky ass should know that already." Dean chuckled as he ruffled Sam's hair on his way to the kitchen.

"Yeah." Sam mumbled, already beginning to yawn as the day's events caught up to him. "I guess he's a pretty cool and talented guy. We could learn a lot from him."

"Coffee?" Dean called out from the kitchen.

"Nah, I'm good." Sam called back, and went back to the papers in front of him about the poltergeist they were currently hunting. It felt good to take on a simple case after a while.

 _Theo Jackson_ , Sam thought. _Huh_.

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Sam woke up feeling crappy the next morning. _Damn it._

He sniffed trying to get rid of his congestion and grimaced at his dry throat that ached when he swallowed. _S'probably from the cold rain yesterday._

"Yo, Sammy!" Dean called, smacking on the bathroom door.

A startled Sam jumped as he washed his face with the warm water, and instantly had to brace himself against the counter as the bathroom swirled around him, in a moment of dizziness.

"Woah, kiddo, you okay?" Dean asked, handing Sam a towel for his face.

"Yeah," Sam groaned and turned towards his brother. "I think I have a cold or something."

Dean couldn't help but give Sam a look of sympathy. Even though a cold was nothing compared to what they had been through before, catching it in the middle of a hunt was a bitch.

"I'll get you some pills from downstairs."

Sam nodded gratefully.

Dean caught himself as he was walking out and turned towards Sam.

"Hey, uh, Theo wanted to meet up with us today. I told him we'd help him look into his case last night. You up for it?"

Sam looked up and winced as the pounding in his head got faster for a second. "Uhh, yeah sure. I didn't get a chance to meet him yesterday anyway so that'd be good."

"Okay, I'll let him know. We're having lunch with him and then going to the scene right after, so don't forget you're jacket this time," Dean winked.

Sam let out a breathy laugh. "Jerk."

He almost missed the faint sound of 'bitch!' coming from Dean who had already made it downstairs and into the main room.

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Sam was trying not to fall asleep as Dean and Theo talked on and on and on. Glancing at the time, he sighed as he realized that it hadn't even been an hour yet.

Theo was a pretty cool dude, and he definitely seemed trustworthy. But after a while, Dean and Theo ended up just talking to each other and Sam was just… there.

So now Sam just listened to the two talk and watched them finish up their _matching_ double cheese burgers and fries.

A little while earlier Sam had given his input on the hunt, but he was pretty sure that it had been ignored. Now the conversation wasn't even _about_ the hunt. Dean was blabbing on about… _baseball_ he thinks? And Theo was loudly providing commentary to everything Dean said, which only added to the pounding in Sam's head.

 _I mean it's not like they had a hunt to go scout out or anything guys._

Sam was a little shocked at his own sass and bitchy attitude ( _heh, kinda_ ) but with a boring day and crappy sickness, he decided to cut himself some slack.

Theo had even called Sam 'Sammy' and Dean hadn't even stopped him from doing so. So now Sam was Sammy to both Dean and Theo, when he really only wanted to be Dean's baby brother Sammy.

He was startled back into reality when Dean and Theo finally stood up to leave.

"Sam, Theo's gonna ride with us to the scene." Dean swiftly put on his jacket and reached into his back pocket before Theo stopped him.

"Nah man, lunch is on me." Theo set some bills on the table and nodded towards the Impala. "Consider it payment for the sweet ride."

As they walked outside, Sam almost dropped the file in his hands as Theo let out "I call shotgun!" and whisked past Sam towards the car.

Dean chuckled and gently patted the hood of the Impala. "Go for it."

Sam gaped in shock. Shotgun was _his_ spot. Only he got to sit up there with his brother and no one else. How was he supposed to fit his giraffe-legs in the backseat anyway? The drive had to be at least 50 minutes out.

Dean and Theo had already made themselves comfortable however, and so Sam was forced to take a deep breath and situate himself into the back.

Sam winced as he yanked open the back door and plopped himself onto the cramped seat in the back. He also may have closed the door a bit too loudly.

Obviously, no one noticed.

 _This day was going to be great._

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Sam was starting to dislike Theo more and more as the day passed. Not only had he taken his spot in the car and ignored his helpful comments about the hunt, but Dean had gone ahead and invited the guy to freaking STAY at the Bunker until he had wrapped up the hunt.

They usually never let anyone even _near_ their Bunker except for a few select people, like Cas, Kevin, and _god_ Charlie. Sam swallowed the lump in his throat that seemed to appear every time Kevin or Charlie was brought up.

Cas wouldn't even _be_ at the Bunker for a few days because he was out doing his own stuff. So now Sam would be all alone and have no- … _what the hell?_

Sam narrowed his eyes at Theo who was sitting Dean-style, with his legs propped up onto the table, drinking coffee out of _Sam's_ special mug. The mug that happened to say _'I lost my shoe'_ that Dean had gotten custom printed for him as a prank-gift a few years ago.

And on top of that, Dean, who was sitting right in front of Theo, didn't even say anything about it being Sam's mug.

The younger Winchester blew a strand of stray hair out of his face as he watched the two men talk about all the cool hunts they'd been on and how the Bunker was 'so cool!' and all that. They would probably stay up talking all night.

 _He's almost like the older brother I never had._

Dean's words replayed in his head as he turned and walked away, looking forward to the nest of warm blankets that were waiting for him on his bed.

A few hours later, Dean found Sam sitting up in bed, and reading.

"Hey Sammy, I gotta talk to you about something."

Sam was almost relieved to hear at least someone talking to him. "Yeah, sure, what's up?"

"So Theo-" Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "- really needs backup on the werewolf thing because something came up, and he couldn't find anyone free around town, so I told him I'd be up for the gig." Dean said sheepishly. "D'you think you can handle the Poltergeist on your own this time?"

Sam wasn't sure how long he'd stared at Dean with his wide puppy dog eyes, but finally he sat up straighter and let out a little cough. "Ye-Yeah Dean, I think I can handle this on solo, d-"

"Okay, great!" Dean cut him off, letting out a relieved smile and long breath. "Thanks Sammy, I knew I could count on you."

Sam was barely able to nod back, and Dean had already run off somewhere.

 _Great._ Sam thought and quickly stood up to prepare for the long day that tomorrow would become. He braced himself on the closest chair as a wave of dizziness washed over him.

 _Dammit. He had forgotten about his cold. Hunting the freaking Poltergeist with his sickly self would be_ _so_ _much fun._ He just hoped nothing would screw up and that everyone got out of their hunts safe and sound tomorrow.

Thoughts? This is only my second fic, so any feedback would be 3

TM


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